Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c24.s3.4

v2.c24.s3.4

Jahan Khan and Najib were now recalled to Abdali’s camp from their roving commission of raid and slaughter, and sent to levy contribution on Agra, thronged with the richest fugitives from the capital. The Afghan king’s plan was to advance from Agra as a base and capture the Jat forts or compel Suraj Mal to pay a large tribute. Jahān Khan at the head of 15,000 horse made a raid on Agra in the morning of 21st March. A deputation of bankers met him outside the gates and promised to ransom the city for five lakhs; but it was impossible to collect the money promptly, and the Pathan losing patience entered the city and plundered four wards of it, up to the Blue Cupola. Some massacre took place here also, the victims being estimated at 2,000. But his progress was stopped by the walls of Akbar's fort from which Mirza Saifullah (the son of the imperial qiladar) opened fire, thus preventing the invaders from showing their heads near it. Jahān Khan therefore halted for some days to exact the money from the bankers of the city. Only one lakh, out of the promised five lakhs, was raised by the local imperial officials (the qiladar, subahdar and city kotwal) from Sāmaldās the agent of Jagat Seth of Bengal, and paid, when Jahān Khan received a peremptory order to return to his master (23 March.) He set off at sunset and rejoined Abdali near Mathura on the 24th, and finally on the 28th the retreat to Afghanistan began. [TALS. 109a; Muz. 121; Samin in Ind. Antiq. 65; SPD. xxi. 111, xxvii. 146, 152. Raj. i. 63.]